Alright single ladies I am curious how you handle dating while on Whole30 or even just living a Whole30 lifestyle. I have never done a round of Whole30 and dated. I didn’t plan to do that in January. I thought I was going to have a partner by my side that already knew all my weird shit and I could just cruise through my 30 days. Well insert plot twist– that didn’t happen. I know myself well enough that I needed to just get back out there but wasn’t willing to postpone Whole30. So Whole30 dating it is! Dating is hard enough but throwing something like Whole30 into the mix really made things interesting.
Let’s be honest for a minute, Whole30 is weird! Sorry Melissa Hartwig, I love your program and will probably follow it for the rest of my life, but it is weird to people that don’t understand it. I have a hard enough time explaining it to people that know me. Most of the time I get blank stares or “why on earth would you give up cheese and alcohol?” But having this conversation with someone that you are just meeting and doesn’t know your story it is just downright bizarre. Half the time I felt like they looked at me like I was an alien with two heads. Either that or they thought I was in a cult.
Passing on chips and salsa at the Mexican restaurant blew one dudes mind! Other dates, drinks and listening to music– I was a real cheep date for that dude. Lunch– “I’ll have a salad with grilled chicken and no dressing please. Oh and can you hold the cheese and croutons too, thanks.” Italian restaurant (in hindsight I should have made another suggestion) but– I got the grilled chicken and sub the pasta for veggies and passed on bread. Then one dude suggested going for a walk. Well I though this was weird, but was like “hell yeah I don’t have to tell him anything about Whole30 works for me.” Well damned if he didn’t suggest drinks after our walk ended (that lasted all of eleven minutes).
Honestly I wasn’t expecting a love connection so I really didn’t care what these gentlemen thought about me. It made for a good experiment and some pretty good stories. I tried my hardest to explain that Whole30 isn’t a diet but I am just not sure I ever got that point across. No one can fully understand tiger blood unless you have lived it… I get it, I accept it.
But moving forward how does one handle this? Do you just eat like a weirdo… “yes I would like the cheeseburger, hold the cheese and the bun and can I get some guacamole on that? Oh and instead of fries can I will have a side salad with just oil and vinegar if you have it and if not I will pass on the dressing all together. And to drink I would like a sparking water with lime please, thank you.”
Or do you try and explain it to a date and hope that they understand? I guess in the long run the right person isn’t going to care if you order like a freak, don’t eat cheese or pass on the drinks from time to time… so maybe I should just look at this as a lesson in self confidence building and continue to rack up the amazing stories!
betty Gets Fit 